Bolton Council: Consultation on extending alcohol powers

This comes with the council opening a consultation asking the public their views on how to deal with behaviour like this.

The council’s member for stronger communities Cllr Rabiya Jiva, who’s role includes policing and public safety, has encouraged as many people as possible to come forward.

She said: “Many people enjoy a cold beer or a glass of wine and these rules are not about stopping the vast majority of people who drink responsibly.

“But sadly, there is always a minority of people who turn to antisocial behaviour, crime or disorder, spoiling things for everyone else.

Bolton Council hopes to get people's views on extending powers to deal with alcohol (Image: Bolton Council)

“These rules are about giving the police and authorised personnel the powers to deal with bad behaviour when it is being fuelled by alcohol.”

Under the current powers, police and other authorised officials can tell people to stop drinking alcohol if they believe it is fuelling anti-social behaviour, crime or disorder.

If they refuse, the drink can be confiscated and the person responsible given a £100 on-the-spot fine for disorder, which can then jump to £500 if they are prosecuted and found guilty.

These rules cover the whole of Bolton and have been in place since 2012 but have been updated to a Public Space Protection Order under the Anti-social behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.

Orders like these only last for three years before they must be reviewed to see if they should be extended for three more years.

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The alcohol rules now need to be reviewed, so council officials are asking people whether they think that they should be extended.

The rules do not apply to anywhere with a license to serve alcohol, meaning that people are still be able to drink alcohol at licensed events and in pubs, clubs, bars and restaurants.

Cllr Jiva said: “I encourage anyone who lives or works in Bolton to take a few minutes to complete our survey so that we can judge the support for extending the rules and hear people’s views.”

The alcohol consumption public space protection order review 2023 survey will be open until October 5 this year and can be found on the active consultations section of the council’s website.